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A Story of Hope from a Swedish Family Touched by ME / CFS

Today we’d like to share a story of hope from a Swedish family that has been devastated by ME / CFS. Sanna is a mother of four, and her 14-year old daughter Sara was stricken with ME / CFS in 2018. Since then, Sara has been severely afflicted.

This march, Sara’s family is set to be featured on the Swedish television program “Sofia’s Angels.”

Throughout the program, ‘Sofia’s angels’ help different families with problems ranging from accidents, illnesses, or any fate that forced life take a completely different turn than planned. The mission of Sofia’s Angels’ is to give hope to families by helping improve their current situations. Fortunately, Sanna’s family was selected to take part in the show.

Sanna explains, “I have 4 children: 12, 14, 23 and 21 years. The guys who are the oldest had moved away from home, but the girls and I had moved out to the country. Everything was calm and nice.

In the fall of 2018, my daughter Sara (today 14 years old) had just started high school. She had new friends, extra jobs, and she wanted to become a veterinarian. She was a girl who was always happy, living life at full speed.

In September 2018, she contracted glandular fever, but she never recovered- she only got worse. In Autumn we took many trips to the hospital where she received a battery of tests. MRI, blood tests in masses, spinal cord tests, narcolepsy tests, and a large psychological examination … But she just continued to get worse, and we still had no answers.

Sara lost weight, turned gray-green in the face, and had constant pain and fatigue. Then we noticed that she started to stumble, forget words, struggled to hold things, and she would fall and not be able to get up. She had a multitude of intense symptoms that came and went.

In the spring of 2019, her big brother Tim gave up everything in his life in Umeå and moved home. This was my rescue that helped me to cope. When Tim moved home, I could go and work a few weekends in a nearby hotel which helped with our finances. Otherwise, I must stay home to care for Sara. She must eat and drink every two hours, and sometimes she will fall and needs help getting up. Someone must be here all the time.

But when Tim moved back, it also made us 1 bedroom short. We did not have enough room in our home.

We were renovating when Sara got sick, this stopped, and when Tim came home this problem got worse.”

That’s when “Sofia’s Angels” stepped in.

“The help from Sofia’s angels is invaluable. Everyone now has their own space in the house, and it is very easily accessible now … The angels have brought energy, joy, and the siblings have all come together.”

We’d like to sincerely thank Sanna and her family for not only raising awareness of Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME / CFS) but also raising money for OMF-funded research in the process. We are grateful beyond words for the support and philanthropy of our international community. Together we stand in our mission to end ME / CFS.

Myalgic Encephalomyelitis / Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME / CFS) Post Treatment Lyme Disease Syndrome (PTLDS), Fibromyalgia Leading Research. Delivering Hope.Open Medicine Foundation®

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